Edmund and I have been re-watching the Doctor Who reboot from the beginning, and I’m writing mini-reviews; I post them one season at a time. The info is cribbed from Wikipedia, and I added my scores and comments.
The scores go thus:
- This is embarrassing. Go away.
- Weak. I’m not going to try convincing my friends to watch the show based on this.
- Average for a Doctor Who episode.
- That was a good one!
- One of the best ever.
This one is for Part 2 of “Series 7″ of the recent collection, released in 2013 and starring Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Jenna-Louise Coleman as Clara “Oswin” Oswald under the direction of Steven Moffat, and it completes the re-watch marathon. I have to hope and pray that Stephen Moffat, clearly exhausted by his long tenure (or brain-drained by some alien worm, whatever) will now step away and let someone else try to salvage the series.
| No | Title | Score | Comments | Code | Episodes | Writer | Director | Original airdate |
| 232 | “The Bells of Saint John“ | 2 | Phooey, we lost Sir Ian as the voice of the Great Intelligence. In addition, what a missed opportunity to give agency to a Companion! Clara could very well have been gifted with computers on her own, which would have been the most logical reason for The Stack to want her – as was even mentioned in the episode. But no, she was clueless until partial upload left her with magically 1337 skilz. | 1 episode | Steven Moffat | Colm McCarthy | 30 March 2013 | |
| 233 | “The Rings of Akhaten“ | 2 | Nice setting, but longish episode with insufficient plot and weak, interminable monologuing. Also, I want to see fewer creepy interactions between the Doctor and little girls. And less flirting. | 1 episode | Neil Cross | Farren Blackburn | 6 April 2013 | |
| 234 | “Cold War“ | 3 | Underuse of the guest cast, tedious super-warrior/Cold War plot, complete non-surprise dénouement. | 1 episode | Mark Gatiss | Douglas Mackinnon | 13 April 2013 | |
| 235 | “Hide“ | 3 | Ghost+time traveler+manticore monsters in love — Is somebody now writing these episodes by throwing three of four GURPS sourcebooks together? | 1 episode | Neil Cross | Jamie Payne | 20 April 2013 | |
| 236 | “Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS“ | 3 | I’d be happy to see POC characters—if that didn’t mean that garbage collectors are all black men, which seems insulting. | 1 episode | Stephen Thompson | Mat King | 27 April 2013 | |
| 237 | “The Crimson Horror“ | 3 | The plot is nonsense but at least it has the lovely trio of Madame Vastra, Jenny Flint, and Strax. | 1 episode | Mark Gatiss | Saul Metzstein | 4 May 2013 | |
| 238 | “Nightmare in Silver“ | 3 | I liked Porridge, and I think Warwick Davis has a lovely voice. I sort of liked the punishment unit and the many nods to WH40K. Other than that, a fairly stupid plot that contradicts the canon. | 1 episode | Neil Gaiman | Stephen Woolfenden | 11 May 2013 | |
| 239 | “The Name of the Doctor“ | 3 | Eh, a mess of a plot to get us to the big jump, but it had Vastra, Jenny, Strax, and River Song. The latter seriously needs to learn to say “Fuck off, you selfish dickhead husband,” though. Also, it didn’t look in previous episodes like Clara’s been saving the Doctor all the time. | 1 episode | Steven Moffat | Saul Metzstein | 18 May 2013 | |
| 240 | 4 | It was nice to see a number of characters (and actors) appears, and the rhythm was fairly brisk. I always enjoy non-linear story-telling, although this was still cautious. Mostly, I regret that the plot revolved around the last few years of Doctor Who, less than a decade in the five spanned. Also, the previous Companions are ignored except, to an extent, Rose Tyler. | 50th anniversary special (75 mi) |
Steven Moffat | Nick Hur | 23 November 2013 | ||
| 241 | “The Time of the Doctor“ | 2.5 | Good Lord, I thought this episode would never end. I really can’t stand hearing any more innuendo about the Doctor’s romantic life. And a 300-year war siege by the Daleks? Really? No one figured out how to break the stalemate? | Christmas special (60 mins) | Steven Moffat | Jamie Payne | 25 December 2013 | |
| The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot | 5 | Adorable, and everything the official special wasn’t in terms of homage to the actual series rather than the last few seasons. | 50th anniversary spoof (30 mins) |
Peter Davison | Peter Davison | 23 November 2013 |
The Reef 